Misscall of the year (1 Viewer)

Farnboro John · Mar 18, 2015

I've certainly lost the power of intelligent (or intelligible) speech on seeing something amazing (to me anyway): my first day in Africa, in Malawi, a Ross's Turaco flew through the garden and my directions consisted of: "Aah! Uuh... Thing... purple... LOOK!" (Points finger)

John

Jeff Hopkins · Mar 19, 2015

If you haven't called an airplane an eagle on our hawkwatch, you haven't been up there enough. My favorite is when someone says "I've got an eagle" and someone asks "Where is it relative to the plane?" Oops. The standard follow-up is "Well, it does have flat, fixed wings."

And I've seen far too many white plastic bag snowy owls to count.

occasional · Mar 19, 2015

Heard some ducks up on the hill and spent about ten minutes crawling through wet bracken to investigate

- leaking water pipe!

Warixenjalka · Mar 19, 2015

Jeff hopkins said:
If you haven't called an airplane an eagle on our hawkwatch, you haven't been up there enough. My favorite is when someone says "I've got an eagle" and someone asks "Where is it relative to the plane?" Oops. The standard follow-up is "Well, it does have flat, fixed wings."

Been there, Done that...

Peter C. · Mar 19, 2015

It appears that the "leaking pipe bird" is a much more widespread species than I thought! Not quite as common as "shopping bag owl," of course, that one is distributed throughout the holartic...

Larry Sweetland said:
I've fallen for that one too!

I've also known of a friend who ran through pine forest towards a sound that they could only think must be Capercaillie. They then hit an unexpected road, and eventually saw what was making the sound, but only when a car came along and went over a cattle grid.

On a tangential note: speaking of metal grids, I've been in something like the reverse situation to your friend. I once heard, and then saw, a Yellow-eared Toucanet doing some sort of display. Had I not been in a Costa Rican forest at the time, I would never have believed the sounds I was hearing were coming from a bird - sounded more like a cement mixer grinding its gears (AND LOUDLY, TOO!). Still the most extraordinary bird sound I have ever heard (but that's already the subject on a different thread, no doubt.)

halftwo · Mar 19, 2015

Indeed Peter!

I once nearly jumped into a canal to avoid a motorbike that was about to run me down - to find it was a Jay calling nearby.
I've never before or since heard one repeat the call.

stuartvine · Mar 19, 2015

I can so relate to "Thing... purple". My SO once outraged a very stuffy northern birder in Mallorca by pointing at Purple Gallinules and going "Oh look, purple thingies"! The name has stuck, although it occasionally changes to "Purple People-eaters" if we're feeling long-winded.

Farnboro John · Mar 19, 2015

halftwo said:
Indeed Peter!

I once nearly jumped into a canal to avoid a motorbike that was about to run me down - to find it was a Jay calling nearby.
I've never before or since heard one repeat the call.

Similarly,on my first visit to Florida our group's consumption of cold fizzy caffeine drinks resulted in numerous loud dry belching sounds that sounded just like male Alligators: when one went off just behind you it was out of the blocks like Linford Christie first and check on origin second!

John

Peewit · Mar 19, 2015

Farnboro John said:
Similarly,on my first visit to Florida our group's consumption of cold fizzy caffeine drinks resulted in numerous loud dry belching sounds that sounded just like male Alligators: when one went off just behind you it was out of the blocks like Linford Christie first and check on origin second!

John

Love it John

In Hunstantion, Norfolk, the Starlings have taken to impersonating Oyster Catchers. While staying at local Hunstanton Hotel door an Oyster Catcher was busy caling from the roof above....what.... I do not think so LOL :eek!:

Where I live in Bedford the local Starlings love impersonating Buzzards and calling BoP's. I can hear the mewings of BoP's in my back garden, and I look up to see no BoP's but Starlings instead calling in BoP language while sitting on my chimney. I can hear the same calls in my front room because the calls echo down the chimney - for my own entertainment.

Locally to me, I have also heard burgular alarms, sirens for Police cars etc... Starlings are the worlds best mimicks ever. :-O

Phil Carter · Mar 26, 2015

Yesterday at Abberton, I confidently called a Wheatear in a distant field. A bit confused as to why it wasn't moving I set up the scope to reveal the "bird" to actually be a pile of sheep-shit. I got even more confused a few minutes later when the "sheep-shit" appeared to have gone! Scanning again shortly after, it had reappeared. This time, just as I'd realised what it actually was and called out rabbit, it moved again and transformed itself into a Ring Ouzel! Hang on, that's still not right....hmm, Fieldfare? By this time, my mate had had enough and commandeered the scope and declared it was actually a Great-spotted Cuckoo!!(we'd not even been in the pub as yet) but then came to his senses and categorically plumped for Lapwing. I took over again just as the bird shifted again, this time face on when it revealed itself to be a female Merlin!
Thankfully, the bird then flew and I'd been correct on my 4th attempt and it was a Fieldfare.
Luckily, the only other birders around had left in disgust at "sheep-shit"
In mitigation, it was a bloody long way off in a terrible heat-haze....honest Guv.

Phil

dantheman · Mar 26, 2015

No-one been on here with Booted Eagle yet?

Phil Carter · Mar 26, 2015

Phil Carter said:
Thankfully, the bird then flew and I'd been correct on my 4th attempt and it was a Fieldfare.

Phil

Damn, even got that wrong. After a re-count, 5th attempt.

Phil

Larry Sweetland · Mar 26, 2015

Phil Carter said:
Yesterday at Abberton, I confidently called a Wheatear in a distant field. A bit confused as to why it wasn't moving I set up the scope to reveal the "bird" to actually be a pile of sheep-shit. I got even more confused a few minutes later when the "sheep-shit" appeared to have gone! Scanning again shortly after, it had reappeared. This time, just as I'd realised what it actually was and called out rabbit, it moved again and transformed itself into a Ring Ouzel! Hang on, that's still not right....hmm, Fieldfare? By this time, my mate had had enough and commandeered the scope and declared it was actually a Great-spotted Cuckoo!!(we'd not even been in the pub as yet) but then came to his senses and categorically plumped for Lapwing. I took over again just as the bird shifted again, this time face on when it revealed itself to be a female Merlin!
Thankfully, the bird then flew and I'd been correct on my 4th attempt and it was a Fieldfare.
Luckily, the only other birders around had left in disgust at "sheep-shit"
In mitigation, it was a bloody long way off in a terrible heat-haze....honest Guv.

Phil

I think we might have a winner here, nice one Phil :t::t:

Chris Storer · Mar 27, 2015

I had been commenting to my colleagues about a mallard that hadn't left the nearby pond in a week and a half, and was in a strange molt I had never seen. Turned out, it was one of those fake ducks they put in ponds to attract the real ones. The insult to injury was that, when I brought up the subject, I know at least a couple of the ten people in the room knew it was fake, and said nothing at the time

Farnboro John · Mar 28, 2015

Chris Storer said:
I had been commenting to my colleagues about a mallard that hadn't left the nearby pond in a week and a half, and was in a strange molt I had never seen. Turned out, it was one of those fake ducks they put in ponds to attract the real ones. The insult to injury was that, when I brought up the subject, I know at least a couple of the ten people in the room knew it was fake, and said nothing at the time

The good news is you could see it was a poor fake - just didn't make the leap to believing your own opinion that it "didn't work" as a Mallard.

John

AllanM · Mar 28, 2015

halftwo said:
I once claimed a Little Egret (when they were rarer than hen's teeth) - it was a plastic bag.

I still have nightmares 35 years later!

Glad I'm not alone! I thought I had a Little Egret last year until I realised it had 'TESCO' emblazoned on the side. :-C

Johann Sebastian Bach · Mar 28, 2015

In the 1970s, a friend dashed into a bird reserve centre with exciting news: "Med gulls, loads of Med gulls on the scrape", he panted. The half dozen seasoned birders and wardens in the room showed no interest. Med gulls were very rare at the time, so he spluttered the same sentence again, but louder.

"Did they move much?", came the reply from one of the wardens, as he put the finishing touches to the head of a decoy Black-headed gull.

The wooden decoys were being used to entice B-h gulls to breed. They'd run out of brown paint and had reverted to black for the birds' heads.

It took a very long time for the teasing to stop.

Peter

Zheljko · Mar 28, 2015

Peter C. said:
:-O
In the miscall department, none particularly egregious this year ... although we did have a slightly amusing one in Colombia last month. My S.O. and I were walking on a track just outside of the town of Minca, when we heard a repeatet "tsk-ing" and sputtering sound coming from thick bush nearby. "Oh, boy!" we thought, "manakin lek!". Spent quite a bit of time trying to home in on the source of the sound - only to discover it was coming from a leaky rubber irrigation house, shooting out little jets of water under high pressure. Yikes, talk about imagination....

The call of a fledgling Long-eared Owl was likened to a squeky swingset, so when I heard it in the local woods I followed the sound and it turned out to be a squeaky swingset indeed...

micronesia · Mar 28, 2015

I recall an embarrassing 'plastic' Eagle Owl moment.

David Ferguson · Mar 29, 2015

I once called a flushed Wheatear in the dim light of dawn which turned out to be the rear end of a rabbit!

Misscall of the year (1 Viewer)

Well-known member

Just another...observer

Well-known member

Birdwitcher

...just zis guy, you know?

Wird Batcher

Well-known member

Well-known member

Once a bird lover ... always a bird lover

Well-known member

Bah humbug

Well-known member

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

Brand New Birder

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread